The supermarket giant’s 280,000 UK staff will share a payout worth £56million, down from £110m a year earlier,

Tesco workers paid the price for the biggest profit slump in its history after their bonus pot was halved.

The supermarket giant’s 280,000 UK staff will share a payout worth £56million, down from £110m a year earlier, and worth a maximum of £1,625 per employee.

Tesco’s 5,000 top managers and its board will also lose out after their annual bonus and long-term share awards were axed.

The clampdown came after annual profits crashed 51% to £1.96billion.

It was left facing a £1.2bn hit from pulling out of the US by axing its Fresh & Easy business.

Philip Clarke, who has begun a £1bn ­fightback in the UK, missed out on an annual bonus for the second year running after waiving last year’s award. But he has just got £830,000 worth of shares, granted in 2010, on top of his £1.1m salary.

Tesco’s top execs still shared nearly £9m in pay and perks. Finance director Laurie McIlwee saw his total pay fall almost 20% to £917,000.

Tim Mason, who ran the troubled US arm, got £1.6m, while former UK chief Richard Brasher received a £1.3m pay-off.

Senior managers will only get an annual bonus if they manage to turn things around, the report said.

Under a new plan, annual payouts will be “less heavily weighted towards short-term profits”.

If maximum targets are met, Clarke could earn as much as £7m.

The £56m staff shares award is equivalent to 1.5% of an employee’s earnings, and is payable to workers who joined the group before February 25.

Shares are held in trust and can be sold after three years. A company spokeswoman said: “It’s not been a secret it’s been a challenging year for the business.”

The retailer also unveiled a new campaign to cut food waste from both its ­operations and supply chain, and among customers as part of its Tesco and Society report.

It aims to tackle the £680 worth of food that is thrown away by ­households every year, and includes selling food in smaller sizes at its convenience stores and tailoring ­promotions away from goods with shorter shelf lives.